


Show and Tell

by BistaUss



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Rumbelle Christmas in July 2018, rcij
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-14 20:46:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15397110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BistaUss/pseuds/BistaUss
Summary: My Rumbelle Christmas in July fic for the lovely celticheartedfangirl! I hope you enjoy it!Prompt: "Don't tell me, show me."The men in Belle's life show her that they mean what they say. I had a bit of a rough time with this one (deployment blues suck) but I hope I did the prompt justice. I also really wanted to give poor Moe a chance to not be a total ass.





	Show and Tell

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CelticHeartedFanfic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticHeartedFanfic/gifts).



“You lied to me.”

“No, I kept my word. I will not kill her.”

“You toy with words like you do people,” Belle said, trying to keep her voice steady. “You’re still a man who makes wrong choices. I thought you’d changed.”

“What, in the hour you’ve known me?”

Though his face and voice were human, the retort felt like the imp, like Rumplestiltskin when he was at his most cruel. Belle felt her breath catch in her throat and her eyes start to burn. Before she could break, she strode past him and made for the door.

“Belle, I’m sorry,” he called, but she didn’t stop. “Belle, I’m sorry!” She pulled the door open and glanced back at him. “I am,” he said, his voice earnest. Her throat tight, she went through the door and closed it firmly behind her, heading off into the night. 

She chose a direction and walked, paying no heed to the strong winds or the distant shrieking. She didn’t know exactly what he’d set upon Regina, but she imagined it would be pointed at the queen like an arrow toward a bullseye, so she did not fear it. Wrapping her arms around herself, she pressed on. She needed time to think.

***

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she made her way back to the shop, guessing that he hadn’t yet gone home. The lights in the window were a good sign, so she entered. He wasn’t in the front of the shop, so she made her way toward the back room. She pushed through the curtain, and found him sitting at a small spinning wheel, his head turning toward her. “Hi,” she said, slowly walking into the room. 

“Hey,” he replied, the surprise evident in his face.

“I went for a long walk,” she continued, walking closer to stand next to his seat at the wheel.

“I thought you didn’t want to see me,” he said.

“I didn’t,” she replied simply.

“Well,” he said, “the beast is gone, and Regina...lives.”

“So, uh, you didn’t get what you wanted.”

“Well that remains to be seen,” he said, with a small sad smile.

Belle looked away from him for a moment, her eyes landing on the small table beside him. A familiar blue and white teacup sat there, and she couldn’t help a smile of her own. “You still have it,” she said, nodding toward the cup.

Rumplestiltskin turned and picked it up, holding it gently in both hands. “Yes,” he said. “It’s one of the few things in this shop that I truly cherish.” He looked up at her and she had to take a deep breath.

“You lied to me. And don’t give me that same excuse from earlier. You knew what I meant when I asked you not to kill her. You deliberately found a loophole so you could still get your revenge.”

He placed the cup back on its table and stood, leaning on his cane as he faced her. “Belle, how could I have just let her get away with what she did to you?”

“I don’t need you to fight my battles for me,” Belle shot back. “What Regina did to me was horrible, and while she was probably planning to use me in some way to get to you, the fact remains that she did it to me, and it is my decision if I want to do something about it!”

His eyebrows were raised, but he didn’t say anything.

“I love you, Rumplestiltskin,” Belle said. “And I want us to be together. But you have to show me that you want it to.”

“Of course I want us to be together,” he replied. “But you were right earlier, Belle. I do still make wrong choices. I’m still a monster. I don’t know if I deserve to be with you.”

Belle took a step closer to him and laid her hands on his shoulders. “No one decides my fate but me, remember?” The tiniest of smiles crossed his face at the memory, and she smiled back at him. “If you want to be with me, just try to show me that you’re trying, alright? There’s a good man in you, I know there is.”

He didn’t reply, just wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. She leaned into the embrace, breathing deeply and just holding onto him for several moments.

Part of her was loathe to end the moment, but she’d come to a few other conclusions during her walk and she didn’t want to put things off anymore. “Rumple,” she murmured against his shoulder. “I think I need to see my father.”

The tension in his body was immediate, and his hands tightened around her. She pulled back to look at his face, and she understood. The two of them hadn’t talked about everything yet, but he had told her about Regina’s lies. She’d already told him that none of it was true, she hadn’t even gone back to her father after leaving Rumple’s castle, but the scars were still there. He just needed time.

“I haven’t seen him since I left to go with you,” she said softly. “He is here, isn’t he?”

Rumplestiltskin nodded, swallowing hard. “Yes, he’s here. I can take you to his house, if you’d like.” She lifted an eyebrow at him, and he added, “Remember, I own the whole town, for the most part. I know where everyone lives.”

Belle shook her head and they slipped out of each other’s arms. “Yes, please take me there. But I have one condition. You can’t stay there, I need to see him alone.” A shadow of panic flickered in his eyes. “Don’t worry, Rumple, I’m not running away from you.”

“I know,” he replied, nodding. “Just a moment.” He went to one of the many shelves in the room and fished something out before returning to her. “This is a cell phone,” he told her, and he opened it for her, showing her the various buttons and how to operate the device. She was fascinated, turning it this way and that, pressing the buttons he showed her. He explained how to use it to make a call, and said, “I’d like you to keep this with you. I don’t know if you’ll decide to spend the night at your father’s house, or seek other accommodations, but whatever you choose, if you need any help you can call me. Anything you need, just call, alright?”

Belle gave him a smile and nodded. “Thank you, Rumple,” she said, giving him another hug. 

He led her out of the shop, locking up behind them, and once in his car they headed toward Moe French’s house. Belle, eyes alight with curiosity again, asked about the various buildings they passed. Just like the cell phone, there were so many new things to learn about, and she wanted to know it all. He answered all her questions, telling her what the shops were, who ran them, explaining all the unfamiliar concepts. His voice was steady, but after a few minutes she noticed that his knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel with unnecessary force.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I created the curse that brought us all here, but Regina, as the caster, had more say over how it affected the people here, how their cursed personalities were manifested. She didn’t even bother to give you anything, she just left you with nothing.” By the end, he was growling through gritted teeth.

Belle hadn’t thought of it that way, though it didn’t surprise her that he had. She reached over and placed a gentle hand on his knee. “All that is over, Rumple,” she said softly. “I don’t think I’d like having false memories, anyway.”

He didn’t reply, but his hands relaxed a touch, so she counted it as a small success. Another couple minutes passed, and suddenly he had stopped the car in front of a modest house. Belle looked out the window, her heart in her throat. She turned back to Rumple, who was looking at her with a small smile on his face. “Here we are,” he said. “Remember, if you need anything at all - “

“I’ll call you,” she said, leaning over and pressing a soft kiss to his lips. “Thank you for this, Rumple.”

He nodded, and Belle got out of the car, giving him another smile as she closed the door, then hurrying up toward the front door. Through the windows of the little house she could see lights, so she thought her father must be home, and she moved even faster. She got to the door and knocked, feeling a tiny bit silly for it but needing the extra moments to brace herself. As thrilled as she was to finally see him again, she had a feeling that her father might need some reassuring about her relationship with Rumplestiltskin, and that might be a very unpleasant topic of conversation. 

Suddenly the door opened, and all those thoughts trickled out of her head. Maurice looked down at her, first with the curiosity of someone not expecting company, then disbelief, then pure joy. “Belle?” he breathed.

“Papa!” Belle’s voice cracked as she threw herself at him, and he caught her, embracing her tightly. “I missed you so much.”

“Belle, I thought I’d never see you again,” her father replied, his voice shaking. They pulled out of the embrace and looked at each other, each beaming. Maurice ushered her into the house, and she closed the door, glancing over her shoulder just in time to see Rumple driving away.

***

“There’s so much to tell you, I’m not sure where to start,” Belle said, wrapping her hands around her cup of tea.

“Where were you during the curse?” her father prompted. “Moe, that is, I have no memories of you in this place.”

Belle looked down. This wasn’t a pleasant start, and part of her wanted to spare him. But she told him the truth. “I was in the asylum, under the hospital. I never got out until just before the curse broke.”

Maurice’s eyes were wide, and his jaw clenched. “Did he put you there?”

“No, no, of course not.” She saw his eyebrows lift at her immediate denial, so she pressed on. “It was Regina who cast the curse. Rumplestiltskin had nothing to do with it. And anyway, he thought I was dead.” Her father looked so confused, she sighed a little and continued. “He let me go, Papa. Back in our realm. One day he just told me to go into town on some silly errand, but the errand was just an excuse. He was setting me free. And I did leave. But, I changed my mind and went back.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I realized that I had fallen in love with him.” Maurice’s face went pale, and she kept going. “And I knew that letting me go meant he loved me too. I went back and things didn’t go very well, it’s a long story that I promise I’ll tell you, but I ended up being captured and locked away by Regina before the curse even came. She told him I was dead. I think she planned to use me as leverage against him at some point, but I was released from the asylum before she got the chance.” Belle took a long drink of her tea, her heart pounding in her ears as she waited for him to say something.

“No one decides my fate but me,” Maurice said softly. “That’s what you said the day you agreed to go with him, to save us all. I was frightened for you that day, but I was also proud. It sounds like you’ve done a lot of living since I last saw you, and I can see you’re even stronger now than you were then. And I’m still proud.”

Belle’s breath caught in her throat.

“Even with the things that obviously went awry, I can see that you’re still the one who decides your own fate.” A smile broke across his face. “I have an unpleasant history with the Dark One from our time in this town, but if you can love him, I can give him another chance. I know you wouldn’t love him if there wasn’t some good in him, and I can try to see it too.”

Belle leapt up from her seat and rushed around the table, throwing her arms around her father, tears springing to her eyes. “Thank you, Papa,” she said as they hugged each other tightly. “Thank you so much.”

***

Nothing could have shown Belle that her father truly meant to give Rumple a chance better than him driving her over to the pawn shop the next day. She hadn’t told him all the story yet, there was so much of it, but they had talked long into the night, and in the morning when she’d said she wanted to go see Rumple, he’d offered to drive and she’d nearly cried again. She couldn’t deny that she’d been worried about him hating Rumple and not being open to giving him a chance. That he was willing meant more to her than she could say.

The shop was open when she arrived so she went in, the tiny bell above the door announcing her entrance. He wasn’t in sight, so she called out, “Rumple?” There was a bit of a clatter from the back room, and she was moving in that direction when he came out from behind the curtain.

“Hey,” he said, a bit breathless. “How did it go?”

Belle didn’t answer immediately, instead just kept walking towards him and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him close. His arms went around her waist too, and she leaned against his shoulder. “It was wonderful,” she said, sighing. “I was worried he wouldn’t understand, but he did, and he just wants me to be happy.” She pulled back to look into his face, beaming.

He looked incredulous, but a small smile came to his face nonetheless. “That is wonderful, Belle,” he said. 

She gave another happy sigh before breaking away from their embrace and, as if she were back in the Dark Castle, sat herself on an empty space on the counter. “So, what were you working on back there?”

Rumple leaned on his cane and pressed his lips together for a moment before answering. “Well, since last night I’ve discovered that there’s a bit of a problem with the town line.” Her eyebrows lifted and he went on. “We can’t cross it without losing our true memories again. Should we cross over into the outside world, we’ll become our cursed selves once more.” His knuckles whitened on the cane’s handle as he continued. “The whole purpose for this curse, the reason I made it, was to find my son. Baelfire. He’s out there somewhere in the world and I can’t leave this place to find him. So I was trying to find a way around it, a way to cross the town line and keep my memories.”

Belle leaned forward and asked, “Have you found a way?”

“Maybe,” he replied. “I’ll need to experiment, but I think I can make it work.”

“Could I,” she started slowly, “could I come with you, if you find a way? I want to help you find him, if I can.”

He just gazed at her for a long moment, seeming at a loss for words, and then reached for her hand. She laced her fingers through his, waiting. He took a deep breath and said, “I would love nothing more than for you to come with me, Belle.”

She smiled and tugged on his hand, pulling him to her, and pressed her lips against his. She had still been worried that he would shut her out, that he would try and hide behind his walls again, and that he wasn’t meant so much to her. She wasn’t sure she could express her relief and gratitude in words so she just kissed him fiercely, hoping he’d understand. The look on his face when they broke apart assured her that he had, and she leaned toward him to touch her forehead to his. “I love you, Rumple.”

“I love you too, Belle,” he whispered back, and they stayed there for a time, just enjoying being close to one another. Finally, Rumple pulled away slightly, and offered her a hand off the counter. “Would you like to help me with some research? You might find something in a book I haven’t noticed yet.”

Her eyes sparkled as she took his offered hand and hopped to the ground. “Of course I would. I’ve longed to read through some of your magic books ever since my days back at your castle.”

“I know,” Rumple replied, winking at her and leading her into the workroom. “You always were too curious for your own good.”

Belle stuck out her tongue. “Speaking of my curiosity,” she said, her voice a bit more cautious now. “Would you tell me about him, about Baelfire? I’d like to know about him before I meet him.”

“You’re so confident that you’ll meet him? I haven’t even gotten us a way out of town yet.”

“We’ll find the way, and your son, together.”

Rumplestiltskin wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close enough to lay a kiss on her forehead. “When you say it like that I can just about believe it.” She smiled at him, and he went on, “I’d love to tell you about him. I don’t know what he’s like now, of course, but I’ll tell you what he was like before I lost him to my cowardice.”

Belle turned to face him fully and laid her hands on his shoulders. “You’re not that man anymore, Rumple. You’ve shown me how you’ve changed, and you’ll show him. You won’t be perfect, but no one is. You just have to keep trying.” She gave him a smile, which he tentatively returned. “Alright, where are your books? We have a lot of work to do.”


End file.
